Mapplethorpezine by LASA Ezine

TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT TEXT cows

nn e L

satan

celebacy

ewi :

ma F il k

lamp

satans

ART~!

Pg. 14-15

male to female Satan

sand

oak trees

hamburger

transexual

disease supre cows

Entert

satan

Pg. 28

steinburgsten the border o control satan

satan

m ain en

B -S i d e

satan

Thrills! KEVIN (USA)

satan

jackalope

startwatch c er â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

satan

Heart

arthur

I am a linguist

?Chills?

Pg. 10

gangreen

e N ov

d: Th ne

oncer

Sublingual cold sores

mooooooo

fern

giant rabbitt thing art garfunkel

satan

sans stopwatch

C 19

!Mapplethorpezine!

RICHARD HELL

Table of Contents FeAtuRe StORiEs Concerned............................................................................... pAgE 18&19 AnNe LeWIs ....................Page 14 &15 b-side ..................................................... pAgE 28&29 a DaNCeRs HeARt ........................Page10 & 11

oPinIoNs Marla Olmstead .......................................... pAgE 22&23 MapPleThOrPE .........................Page 12& 13 Art is Subjective ............................ pAgE 6&7 Kevinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Opinion ...................Page 4 &5

AltErnatives Lemon Custard Cake ....................................................... pAgE 16&17 suMMer cAleNDer ...................Page 36&37 Secret Graffiti Artist ................... pAgE 8&9 Kevin ASF .............................Page 26&27 Kevin ASF2 ......................... pAgE 34&35 Jacob ASF1 ........Page 32&33 Jacob ASF2 ............................ pAgE 24&25 Malena ASF2 ........Page 20&21

Biographies Malena V ..................................... pAgE 38&39 Kevin B ......Page 40&41 Jacob B ................................... pAgE 42&43 Ronja B ................Page 44&45

Artistic Funding

magine a world without art. From the first discovered cave painting to the newest skyscraper art has been an important part of society. Art is one of the few things that forces us to use both sides of the brain, the left side for listening, looking, and feeling, while the right side is used for analyzing and understanding. We require art, it has been found in every major civilization. Not knowing the importance of art, some people are led to believe that funding for art through the government, using public money, should be brought to an end. For some reason people think that it is wrong to fund art using taxes collected from the public. But people don’t understand how important art really is. Art is buildings, music, paintings, gardens, literature, commercials, websites, magazines, pictures, video games, and furniture, almost everything. Look around Piss Christ

Written by: Kevin B

Cave Painting

you, and I’m sure you will find that almost everything can be considered art. Some people believe that it isn’t important. Art is aesthetic and not utilitarian. Art isn’t useful it is visual, analytical. Some believe that because it doesn’t have a practical use, then it shouldn’t be funded from the people’s wallets. Where would be without government funded art? Where would art get funding if it didn’t come from the government? Art would become property of the rich, bringing us back to the Dark Ages, where the only art was found in churches and the rich kings’ castles. Art forces people to think, it is a major part of free speech. For this reason in almost every totalitarian society art has been extremely regulated or abolished. Even in the United States, many artists were sued for creating art that was risqué, in some way explicit, or questioned religion in. In 1995 the yearly budget for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) was 162 million dollars, but the next year (1996) the budget dropped to less then 100 million. This was caused by many conservative organizations, specifically the American Family Association (AFA), fighting against funding for art after discovering that artists who created very

controversial art, including Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano, were being funding by the NEA. Robert Mapplethorpe was a photographer whose pictures often contained sexually explicit images of men, while Andres Serrano’s photograph, Piss Christ, featured a crucifix submerged a cup of urine. Both started a large movement to shut down the NEA completely. Failing, they simply cut the budget. Today the yearly budget is 155 million. Art invokes thought, it incites new ideas, and it requires imagination. It reflects a person’s ideas and feelings in something that others can experience. Without it there language would be the only way of expressing ourselves would be through language. Humans need art, if we didn’t then it would have never been created by primitive civilizations like the cavemen. If we didn’t like art no one would pay as much as 140 million dollars for Jackson Pollock’s painting. Being such a huge part of civilization, it becomes obvious that art should be funded by the government, even using public money.

DAVID BOWIE

http://www.morethings.com/music/david_bowie/photo_gallery13.htm

Art is Subjective Written by: Jacob B

arious mediums of art, ranging from experimental film to modern art and, most famously, abstract art have fallen victim to a single criticism that over and over rises above all others with a scream of ruthless idiocy and meaninglessness. With every piece of art depicting anything other than traditional and clearly shown figures (and, in the case of non-visual art, a clear message and traditional techniques) the claim that it isn’t art will arise. From the writings of the likes of William S. Burroughs to the paintings of people like Jackson Pollack and Wassily Kandinsky to the films by the likes of Harry Smith, the claim that a work is not art simply because it doesn’t conform to a traditional, confining sense of the word is made over and over. This argument is not only ridiculous but also stupid and, most of all, meaningless and unconstructive.

The first thing that must be understood is that art is not one thing. It is not confined to anything, art is a constant. It isn’t defined in any past, present or future piece of art, regardless of how we are advised and what we are taught. The dictionary defines art as “the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance”, but who defines the terms found in that definition? What is beautiful or appealing or of more than ordinary significance? Surely we can’t all agree on these things, so I think that in the people proclaiming things to be nonart there is a simple misunderstanding of the definition of the word they conserve for only things they like. They assume that it means that art is whatever is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance to them, but this is fundamen-

tally flawed because these terms can only be applied subjectively. What one person finds beautiful or appealing or significant is not necessarily what other people find beautiful, appealing or significant, and we cannot truly prove what things these terms apply to because these terms are based on individual perception, and everyone’s perception is different to some degree. This is a mistake made constantly by humans, the idea that just because one individual thinks something (like an individual reading Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs or seeing a Robert Mapplethorpe picture might consider said things to be pornographic), everyone should think the same. The idea of inherent truth is a fundamentally flawed one because it ignores natural variation. The concept of any one thing being beautiful and of other things being ugly is one that is simultaneously ri-

style of Shakespeare and not all painting is in the style Da Vinci, and it shouldn’t be. We need art that speaks to us and individuals and as a society living in the present, not in the past. We need art that is relevant to us now and as long as things that are radically different are denied the status of being considered art no change will come and we’ll be stuck with an ancient interpretation (or at the very least an ancient style of interpretation) of current times.

diculous and extremely false when considering time as a factor. A great example is of crosses. Crosses are viewed by many people to be beautiful and are used often in visual art. People pride themselves (one of the seven deadly sins by the way) on possessing crosses made by artisans and they consider them very important. But what is a cross? There’s a very simple answer, it’s a torture device, a violent, brutal murder weapon, much like iron maidens but much crueler. Two thousand years ago considering a cross as art would be horrifying, people would be astounded by the evil of the very idea of it. It would be the equivalent of someone hanging a portrait of a nuclear bomb or a gas chamber on their wall currently, yet crosses are viewed in a different light for the simple reason that perception changes as time

goes on. What is considered scary and horrible now could easily be viewed as great art in the future, because perceptions vary. Art is subjective. It isn’t dull and unchanging but moving and altering and mind opening. Art is not Hairy Cheese

confined to what any one person says it is, just as science is not confined to one field (the same goes for any subject in the world). What is thought to be art by anyone is art, regardless of whether the viewer likes it or not. Not all poetry is in the

Secret Graffiti Artist Written by: Malena V

Question

A n s w e r

Question

A n s w e r

: How did you fall into the art of graffiti?

: Well one day, in my youth, I saw a rock. It was naked, in the nude. I had to expose my paintbrush at it, I just had to.

: What is your favorite material to use?

: I love sharpies, they are just so powerful and bold, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wonderful. They also smell good and stimulate the art sense.

: Did you do graffiti at your middle school or just at high school?

: My middle school was scum, it was very ugly, it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t deserve my art. So, yeah, I started in high school.

: How does Elton John inspire you?

: Elton John is an inspiration for a lot of my work. His beauty, his poise, it makes my art explode.

A Dancers Heart

“I

should retire, I guess, but you know what, when you still have the love in it, if you have it here, the kids know it, they know when you love them, and they know when you love what you do.” At age 72, and with 60 years of teaching, not to mention neuropathy in her legs and feet, Patricia Kellam (known as Ms. Trish) is still dancing, and providing every one of her little dancers with TLC and a deep passion for dance. Of course, these days she has the help of her trusty pink walker rosie, and the assistance of her troupe girls, but she still keeps going. “I’m proud to still be able to stand up and still do what I do,” “I really, feel blessed, it’s a bummer, but you know we just deal with what God gives us, isn’t that right? I told the doc-

tors, I told them, I’m gonna tell you what; don’t you dare tell me I can’t come back to this studio, don’t you dare, that really will get me. And ill just start going off, just cause when im here, I’m just, I cant explain it, its just so in my heart. And these kids are my therapy! They’re my therapy ,they’re my tonic, they’re everything I need!” Patricia Kellam was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. From an early age Trish was involved in dancing. Her mother, a voice and piano teacher who had performed at Carnegie Hall, was taken by surprise when she became pregnant with twins. “She wasn’t real thrilled about having any, but here we were, so she said, well our last name was Patterson, so she thought hmmm Patrick and Patricia Patterson, the Patterson twins. And since I had them so late in life, they’re gonna be something, they’re gonna be

Written by: Ronja B

on Broadway or be on the stage, and be able to support me when I get old.” Before she was three Trish and her twin brother were enrolled in dance lessons, learning from a teacher her mother used to play piano for. “We just danced and danced our little hearts out, and we adored it.” It wasn’t long before the Patterson twins began participating in various little shows and performing in places including Mr.Pepperman and the Paramount and at the Palace Theater in Dallas, but Trish developed a different direction. While traveling to conventions with her dance teacher as a helper and demonstrator Trish discovered her deep passion for teaching. By the age of twelve she had decided that’s all she ever wanted to do. As soon as she told her instructor Trish was handed a group of five to six girls between the ages of 6-7,

Some of Ms.Trish’s young ballet students (Photo By: Stephanie L)

“and she said, okay this is your class, lets see what you can do with them.” At age thirteen, while she and her brother performed at the Will Rodgers Coliseum in Fort Worth , a talent scout from MGM in the audience discovered them, and was ready to sign a contract with them for the movies. However, Trish’s mother chose a five year contract so that Trish and her brother Patrick could finish their education before deciding what to do. “Well in the meantime I got so involved with teaching I said Pat there’s no way I wanna do this I don’t wanna perform professionally, I wanna teach.” From then on Trish finished high school, where she met her sweetheart Johnny. He was the football player, she was the cheerleader, “and we thought, well this is just the most wonderful thing” she said. He also had a love of ballroom, “ and I said Ill never go with anybody that doesn’t like to dance, well he did, he liked to dance.” Their senior year of high school Trish and Johnny really “hit it off ” and really started going together, until after graduation when Johnny went to Victoria College on a football scholarship. However, that didn’t last long, and a year after their graduation they married, and Johnny took up a job in insurance. Trish also went on to take cecchetti classes, a strict Itallian graded method of ballet. Between exams taken with the TATD (Texas Association Teachers of Dancing) and completing grades 1-5 of cecchetti “I felt like kinda, that was my college education.” Several years later, she had two kids, a son and an adopted daughter. “I thought, I’ve gotta have a little girl, I’ve danced all these years, I’ve gotta have one of these, so we adopted a little girl.” And then they moved to Austin. Although Trish tried to stay home and be a “home mommy” it wasn’t very long before the urge to teach got the best of her. Having met Shirley at a TATD convention in years past, she called her up asking to observe some of her classes, “And she said, Ill tell you

Ms.Trish with her student Rachel L (Photo By: Stephanie L)

what, ill do you one better, come in here and teach a class.” Naturally she did, and ever since she has been with SMSD. Unfortunately in January of 2008, Trish lost her husband to throat cancer. “The last month Edwinna said I want you to stay at home with Johnny the whole month of December, and you know what was so funny was we lost him the fourth of January, and God must’ve known that we needed to be together that month.” The entire time Johnny was extremely supportive of Trish “h’ed tell people, you make her keep dancing, you make her keep dancing.” “He loved it, he loved everthing about my teaching, he loved what I did, and he was so proud of me.” Trish remembers “he’d come

watch, and when he’d go to the recitals ya’ll hed get the program, he’d rate the dances one, two, three, four. Not mine! I mean everybody’s! Edwinna’s, Ms.Theressa’s , ‘now I saw this one, this kid was a little chubby so’.” Trish says that what really draws her to SMSD, is that its not all about going places, like Broadway or TV, its about a love of dancing. “And of course, you know , Edwinna, Theresa, Jennifer, we’re all like family I mean, where theres no competition whatsoever, we genuinely love each other.” “You just feel it,” she says. “What is so really unbelievable is that I probably love it more now then I did when I was younger, because it’s a difference in my heart.”

A Perfect Moment

or the people of Cincinnati, it was a surprise to see a bikini swimsuit top on the formerly exposed breasts of a statue in the Fountain Square. Across the street, the Contemporary Arts Center was showing the photography exhibit Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment. It featured a wide range of Mapplethorpe’s works, but the local authorities took special notice of photographs from Mapplethorpe’s Portfolio X, featuring graphic homoerotic sadomasochism. The center and it’s owner Dennis Barrie found themselves facing an obscenity lawsuit. Mike Shapiro, a topologist from Ohio State, found it ironic that nude art was publicly displayed in the city’s most popular park, but an art museum was be-

Written by: Malena V

Untitled (self-portrait)- Mapplethorpe (creative commons)

ing sued for obscenity. As an act of protest, he censored the statue. However, Shapiro got one thing wrong. It was not the nudity in Mapplethorpe’s work that caused such as outrage. What unsettled people was that they could go to an art museum and see photographs so blatantly sexual that, in a different context, they could have been considered pornography. The line between pornography and art is one that people do not want to blur. Critics of Mapplethorpe were quick to declare that most of his photographs were pornography and only so, ignoring any artistic value. Defenders denied that Mapplethorpe’s photographs had any pornographic aspects. I think it is closer to the reality to say that Mapplethorpe’s photographs could easily be

considered as either one, depending on the context and definition of pornography. The Webster dictionary defines pornography as “ Creative activity (writing or pictures or films etc.) of no literary or artistic value other than to stimulate sexual desire.” No Mapplethorpe images mentioned in this article were included, but they can be found at the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, at http://www.mapplethorpe.org Mapplethorpe’s photographs are undeniably sexual, and very likely to stimulate sexual desire in some portion of his audience. How-

ever, they are also undeniably artistic. As an example, his photograph Man in a Polyester Suit was frequently cited as pornographic, but it is considered by art experts to be one of Mapplethorpe’s best. It shows a man in a suit, the photo cropped at his neck and mid thigh. His genitals are clearly visible and portrayed in a sexual manner. The contrast between the colors of the suit and the skin is striking, the background is blurred to draw attention to the subject of the portrait. If the photograph’s subject had been different (or fully clothed), nobody would deny its artistic qualities. Some argue that there is a different aspect to pornography, and that

the distinction is in the creator itself. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines pornography as “the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement” . Since Mapplethorpe died in 1989, he cannot be questioned on his intentions, but they can easily be found by the way he chose to portray his photographs. Mapplethorpe considered what he did as art. His pictures would not have been out of place in a pornographic magazine, but he chose to publish them in books and try to make it in the art industry, a far more difficult and far less rewarding option. His intended

self-portrait (with devil horns)- Mapplethorpe (creative commons)

audience was people who would view his photographs as art and critique them as so, as opposed to people that would ignore their artistic content and instead view them soley as sexual stimulation. If Mapplethorpe’s intended audience had been the people that would be sexually aroused by his pictures, they would be pornographic. He chose to make his photographs art by marketing them to the artistic community. Mapplethorpe told ARTnews in 1988, “I’m looking for things I’ve never seen before…I was in a position to take those pictures. I felt an obligation to do them.”

self-portrait (in a tux)--ww- Mapplethorpe (creative commons)

Anne Lewis- Filmaker Written by: Jacob B

nne Lewis is sitting parallel to me in my room. Her eyes are everywhere, moving between me and my computer and the posters on my walls and cds and trash on my desk and the kitten running around the room. Her legs and her foot is tapping, she holds her arms straight out across her lap, occasionally moving one to brush her short graying hair from her face or to rub her sleep filled eyes. The room is silent except for the sounds of my keyboard. Since 1970 Anne has been making documentary films. Since then she’s had large roles in the making of 32 films and worked on many more including being the associate director of the academy award winning Harlan County, USA. “Any kind of cultural expres-

from Mexican artists (although most of the artists were Americans in Mexico) to Neal Cassidy (who she met a few weeks before his death at a party). But it was not to last and she moved to New York City a year later. “It was a lot of fun once I got used to it. A lot of people were doing things and- I lived in poor parts of the city and worked for great filmmakers and I learned a whole lot. I also was ready to leave there when I did.” She says without hesitation. Anne lived all over New York, from Little Italy to the Bowery to Hell’s Kitchen and the Lower East Side (coincidentally in the same neighborhood as Alan Ginsberg) and attended the New York School of Visual Arts. Her major was film but she didn’t graduate because, right at the end of her education she went on strike (along with most of the students and teachPortrait of Anne Lewis- annelewis.org ers at the NYSVA) as a protest against the Vietnam War. While in sion is important, it’s what makes us human.” She stands to pet my kit- New York Anne also learned to make ten and play with him for a few sec- films, working for film makers such as onds, continuing to speak the whole Paul Falkenburg, Marcel Ophuls, and time “There’re a lot of films that Marian Kraft whom she considers her aren’t important, but as a form it’s mentors and doing experimental films very important, just like other forms which she describes as less-than great. of artistic expression.” Was her an- In 1973 Anne began working on her swer when I asked why she thought most highly recognized film to date, film was important and whether she the academy award winning documenviews it as a subjective medium. tary Harlan County, USA for which Anne grew up in the 1960s, she was credited as associate direcstarting in a boarding high school in tor (as just one last benefit she was Boston in the early ‘60s. After her also never payed for her work). The graduation she went to UC Berkley to film was about a coal miner’s strike study physics but she dropped out af- in Harlan County, Kentucky. Shootter a single semester and hitchhiked to ing the film required, of course, going Mexico to live with her boyfriend who to the strike and Anne began making was a Mexican artist. While there she trips to Harlan County to work on the was surrounded by art, immersed in film. During the strike she lived with the impressive artistic scene in Mex- Barbara Koppel, the film’s director ico at the time, meeting every one and helped in direction, interviewing,

camera and light work. She is also in the film, serving a warrant to a man that attacked the miners and the film crew, attempting to kill many of them. That morning (the one with all the violence) also happened to be the first time she met Jim Branson (my father and her partner of 18 years) who was then working as a coal miner in a different mine (one that had a union) and had come to support the workers on strike. He tried to defend the film crew and proceeded to get beat up by several large men in a ditch. The next day my mom asked him if he was alright and he said yes, and thus they met. But at that time Jim was married with a child and Anne was becoming romantically involved with Jerry Johnson, one of the striking miners. In 1975 Anne moved to South West Virginia to live in an area near Harlan County. “I really wanted to live in a more rural area or a place that was a little smaller, I missed nature.” She says, standing

“To Save the Land of People”- annelewis.org

by her decision to leave New York. Life was not easy in Appalachia (as would be expected), and Anne also had her foray into the magical world of industry and did subsistence farming with her husband who continued to work as a coal miner. While there

she made more (High Stakes). films, moving Several of her throughout films, most reAppalachia cently Morrisa number of town have retimes and ceived critical switching topacclaim (includics a much ing a very positive greater numreview of Morrisber of times. town by Howard “I’m interZinn), showing at ested in a festivals around “On our own land”- annelewis.org lot of difboth this counferent things. I’ve made try and Mexico. films about Appalachian musicians Anne juggles her time between her and labor struggles and the environ- busy teaching schedule and working ment and education and about pov- on any of the three or more films she erty and global economics. But I has in production at any given time. think just about everything I’ve done “I like to teach film making because has looked at working class people I had great teachers and it’s a way and been about struggle.” She says. of giving back what they gave me. In 1990 Anne’s marriage with It’s a way of supporting younger Jerry fell apart for a variety of reasons. people’s development.” She says, “At that time [1991] I was work- speaking about her time as a teacher ing making films at Appalshop and and rubbing her eyes. “I always have then I ran into Jim again at least some wonderful students in at a conference for com- every class. I’ve never had a class munity activists and we where there weren’t some students started seeing each other, who I thought were remarkable.” and along came little Jacob Anne continues to teach and help in ’93.” She says, laughing. support her family which includes Jim, her two sons now living on their In 1997 Anne moved own, Jim’s son who also lives on his to Austin, Texas with Jim own and two grandchildren who live and Jacob because Jim had in town. The only steady factor in it been offered a job as a union all is the loud noise coming from her organizer for the Texas State editing room as she works on a film. Employee’s Union. After we moved down Anne got a job teaching documentary and editing at UT and finished her college education. She still works on films, having worked 9 films since her move, faithfully ranging in topic from super max prisons (Up the Ridge) to globalization (Morristown) to Appalachian gospel music (His Eye is on the Sparrow) and high stakes testing

Lemon Custard Cakes

Written by: Ronja B

ingredients Unsalted butter, room temperature, for custard cups 3 large eggs, separated 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 to 3 teaspoons grated lemon zest, (1 lemon) 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1 cup milk 1/4 teaspoon salt Confectionersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sugar, for dusting

Prep: 20 minutes Total: 45 minutes Serves: 6 Difficulty: ***

Photo By: Ronja B

marthastewart.com

stE

E st

P fo U R -

P fO u R

# 4 - -- S te

e p #4 -

TwO- s

P #2- s t

#1-s t

E P th r e

# 2 --

With an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Add to lemon batter and fold in gently with a whisk (batter will be quite liquid).

P #3

Divide batter among prepared custard cups; place baking dish in oven and fill with boiling water to reach halfway up sides of cups. Bake until puffed and lightly browned (20 to 25 min). Serve slightly warm or at room temperature, dusted with confectionersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sugar.

p TE

P tw O - s

In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until light; whisk in flour. Gradually whisk in lemon juice, with milk and zest.

P t H r e E-

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set a kettle of water to boil. Butter six 6-ounce custard cups and place in a dish towel-lined baking dish or roasting pan.

# 3 --

#1- -

P tE

P o N e- s te

on E- s T

Photo By: Ronja B

& Decorating Tips! # 1-

One tip that will automatically make your cake look more proffesional and artistic are custard cups, as seen on the Martha Stewart page. You can get these almost anywhere (set of four at Target for $10.49, or a set of six for $11.99 from Amazon.com). The cups usually come in white or glass (but also come in assorted colors)and almost instantly turn these dainty cakes into a seemingly high-quality dessert. p # 2- t TI

P Ti

oNE - # 1

ONe -

p TI

t i P #1 -

tiP # 2 -

3 p # -- T

Photo By: Ronja B

fOu R -

F ouR- t

ThRe IP

P #3- t

Finally spice up your display with a homemade placemat/coaster. There are various creative ideas you could try. Marthastewart.com offers several options including the Pounded-Grass Place Mats or Twig Coasters.

# 4- T i

tHr e E -

Another nice touch is to place the curstard cup onto a small dessert plate alond with a decorative and delicious scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. The flavor goes along great with the lemon cake, and the appearence adds a unique flair. It adds some nice diversity, and looks adorable. You could even go the extra mile by making some extra lemon curd and drizzling it over the ice cream or cake. # 4 -- t P I

tWO - # 2

P TW o -

My second tip is to add a lemon rose garnish. Now this very artistic decoration is not as hard to make as you might think. Using a sharp utility knife, start at the top of a small lemon, cutting the yellow rind only (do not include any white part) make a 1/2 -3/4 in wide continuous unbroken strip, making the cuts jagged and wavy. Coil the strip in a circle, skin side out as tightly as possible. Turn it upside down and place it off to the side of your cake.

Concerned

“I

Written by: Kevin B

just turned 89 and a lot of people at my age who are still around have dementia and I feel my mind is still pretty sharp, well not like it used to be but for my age…” said newly discovered writer William Brenner. William Brenner wants, like numerous others, to leave something behind to be remembered by, leaving his ideas and beliefs for others. Writing his first book was Will’s way of fulfilling this desire. The Great Depression had a deep impact on Will’s life and his perception of the world around him. It changed his views on rich and poor, and the injustice of the world around him. Many of his current views stem from realizations from The Great Depression. It taught him exactly how hard being extremely poor can be. “I was always interested in the economy and the injustice that existed in a society were some people were very rich and others extremely poor. During the depressions, there were a lot of people without jobs, living in shanty towns, cardboard boxes and things and we had injustice all over the world.” Will finished his first book at 87, titling it “Concerned.” His novels aren’t empty stories they are memories to him, the things he wants people to remember about him. “…one of the motives is that I wanted to leave behind things that I had written and things and ideas that I had I wanted to get them printed. I didn’t want to do it like a memoire I did it like a novel…expressing my ideas through fictional characters.” When Will was writing, “Concerned”, he was almost sure it was to be his last book. Telling his publisher “…we needed to get it published right away because I wasn’t sure I’d be around for long.” This was just the day after his doctors informed him about a cancerous tumor in his bladder. The book was written in the three years after his series of hip surgeries; after his second doctors told him he would be in a

William Brenner- Photo By: Susan Thorp

wheel chair the rest of his life. Will wouldn’t have it and after searching almost a year he found someone who would try and help him walk again. The outcome of this one, now, Will, walks around with a little help from a cane and can often get around the house without one. After a successful bladder operation, the tumor doctors found was removed, they told him that it would not return. In an interview with, Arizona Daily Star’s, Jeff Coming, Jeff spoke with Will’s publisher, Joiner, she said in the interview “He had worked so hard on it… At his age, it was absolutely amazing.” Will took writing his book almost as a way to keep his mind fresh. “…they say the mind is like a muscle that you have to exercise to keep it strong

and writing helped me keep working.” Some people including Will’s wife Anne Brenner, thought that Will’s project would end unfinished. To Jeff Commings, Anne said, “I think I was a little surprised.” But of course it was easy and Will worked hard to finish his first book. “It was a lot of work because I had no experience writing a novel and made a lot of mistakes and had to go back and change.” But now Will is finished with his second book, saying that it was much easier, taking only about a year to finish. “Concerned” was a story based on his ideas and concepts, often showing his sides on important issues Book Cover people that I knew so hopefully my like, abortion, war, and second book will get a better audience religion. His second because it is better written.” book, in this sense is not that different. When asked about a third book, Will just “the book is a contrast between the values said that he didn’t think he had enough of the rich and the differences, discrepan- time left. Unfortunately, when doctors cies between rich and poor and later on told Will that his cancer would not return, someone who could be rich but lived sim- they were wrong. It did return but just ply, this isn’t my term but, ‘live simply so months ago, Will, underwent another sucothers can simply live’, so there are others cessful operation. This time they expect who live simply other extravagantly which it to come back, probably making this a is a cause of the economic problems a yearly operation. But Will’s determinapercentage lives in extreme luxury while tion gave him enough time to finish two many more live in extreme poverty.” books, lets see about the third. But Will’s book hasn’t taken him as far as he hoped, saying “It is very hard for an unknown author to break into the publish…to become known and basically most of the books that were sold were sold to people in Tucson and to

The Spiral of Tickets

From the outside to the inside!!!! 1. The opera Carmen 2. The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show 3. An African Drumming and Dance show 4. A Doc Watson concert 5. Entrance to the Museum of Space history 6. Tickets to a Gordon Lightfoot 7. The ticket that I used to enter the Joan Baez concert

8. I say Leonard Cohen 9. Doc Watson again because heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cool! 10. A tickets to the place I saw the solar eclipse 11. A night of Traditional Vietnamese music and dance 12. A Tucson Pastorela 13. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. JOHN CAGE!!!! 14. Its the Three Penny Opera 15. A Borderline Baroque concert

Quizidy Quiz Quiz

Question 1: What is the image that borders every page of?

Question 2: Who is the man on the cover?

Question 11: How old are you? Question 12: Who invented art? Question 13: How many guns is it safe to have around a young child?

Question 3: Where was Anne Lewis Born? Question 14: What is the 8th letter of the русский алфави? Question 4: Who is going to make a Lemon Cake? Question 15: How many question does it take to make a rainbow? Question 5: Who made the best crossword in the magazine? Question 16: Where is Earth? Questions 6: Who wrote the book the book titled “Concerned”?

Question 17: Does the white mustache curl at the ends?

Question 7: Who is quoted in all of our Bios?

Question 18: How old is the computer that I am working on?

Question 8: How many times did Jacob change his ASF ideas?

Question 19: Who is on the second Coloring page?

Question 9: How many Javelinas are in the magazine?

Question 20: How old was the person sitting behind me when i was writing this?

Question 10: Who is yelling at the happy apple?

Marla Olmstead

huge hype started when little four-year-old Marla Olmstead began displaying her art in professional exhibits, selling her abstract paintings for thousands, and being deemed a genius, even a pint-sized Pollock. However, Marla got even more attention when a 60 minutes interview with professional child psychologist Winner, suggested that perhaps Marla wasn’t the one dishing out all these seemingly spectacular works, at least not alone. Significant evidence pointed towards the idea that Marla’s father Mark had polished up her artwork before letting it be auctioned and displayed. Apparently Marla didn’t exhibit that “rage to master” like

Written by: Ronja B

electricityandlust.wordpress.com

most child prodigies did; a professional child psychologist who specialized in prodigies/geniuses said, “I saw her making very ordinary kinds of marks, no different from what a typical 3- or 4-year-old would make. She didn’t seem to have any overall plan. And she didn’t seem very focused.” Also, the only time Marla was filmed painting something from start to finish she seemed “stuck” and was consistently pushed and directed and coached by her father, saying things like “Pssst .... Paint the red. Paint the red. You’re driving me crazy. Paint the red.” Various footage and comments were only shielded by a few brief, empty words of denial from Marla’s parents, making it very plausible that 60 minutes was right. However, whether or not Marla

really completed entire paintings, did not bother me nearly as much as the atrocious way her parents treated the situation, exploiting her, and taking risks, making her a joke. I can’t wrap my head around who would put their daughter through that kind of situation at four years old? Who would put their shy little girl up on a pedestal like that, just for the few minor benefits? I suppose that some people might justify Marla’s parents’ actions by saying that all the profits made went to Marla’s college fund. However, if Marla’s work was really special enough to earn those hefty price tags, her parents could’ve waited several years until Marla was ready for this kind of attention. Just because the money is being put in a reasonable place, doesn’t mean

this type of things couldn’t have been done later. After selling one painting at a coffee shop they could’ve been done, waiting would’ve also proved that Marla had something special, real genuine talent and unique perception. I suppose you could say years later Marla wouldn’t be “special” enough to attract as much attention as she did, and therefore wouldn’t rake in as much cash as she does, considering the wonder of Marla Olmstead is that she is so young. Of course people will say that Marla’s parents probably didn’t think she would have gotten as famous as she did, but it’s not about what they thought would happen, it’s what they allowed to happen. A family wanting to provide their daughter with the ability to raise college funds through her natural talent, would not have to simultaneously agree to numerous interviews, especially not a story by 60 Minutes, which is what sent everything into this downward spiral. Not to mention they even allowed the documentary “My Kid Could Paint That” to be filmed and produced. It wasn’t until the doubts and controversy really began to boil over that Marla’s mother drew the line by saying “as long as our friends and family, and the people that matter believe it, that’s enough for me.” But, why else would you bother allowing a camera crew to invade your lives for several months, to film your shy little girl, other than to clear your name, or hoard some glory? While both probably apply, I think more of it has to do with the glory. Apparently a lust for attention and success is not something new to Mark, many of Mark’s old companions have described him as somewhat of a glory hound, obsessed with even just a few minutes to shine. The director of “My Kid Could Paint That,” told Marla’s parents that a documentary “ may get a deeper truth that these news crews might miss- something you might like Marla to have 20 years from now.” What I don’t understand, is if it doesn’t matter what others think, why do you need to portray a “deeper truth”? What probably bothers me the most is that Marla’s parents claim they would never do anything to embarrass their daughter, but that’s exactly what they’re doing. The peak of her career will be the part surrounded by

skepticism and scandals. The thing she has to remember everything by will be a documentary, only further exploring whether these theories and rumors were true. I personally don’t agree that the documentary is “something you might like Marla to have 20 years from now.” Almost every little thing you look up about Marla Olmstead will be about her and this public doubt of her abilities. Furthermore, will Marla herself even be able to trust her father? At four you don’t really take in or remember everything that’s going on in your surroundings, even if she did, it’s not hard to distract a four-year-old long enough to sneak off and add a few lines here, and a few things there, and I doubt Marla will remember exactly what she did or did not paint line for line. What will she think about what the media has said? What side will she take when she can really take this all in? Of course, Marla is now about eight or nine, and after 4-5 years, the hype has decreased significantly, but it still bothers me emotionally what has occurred here. Not only does this deal with the exploitation of a child, it dives into the idea of art in itself. Whether or not Marla’s parents intended for things to go this far, I believe art is something to be peacefully enjoyed, and not morphed and molded into a petty “scandal”. Her parents shouldn’t have let things get out of hand, they should’ve drawn the line a lot sooner and they should’ve avoided all this publicity to begin with. Art is the outlet of expression, and I can’t believe that a four-year-old really has the capacity to realize, let alone represent anything much deeper than a few select surface-level feelings. Art is about so much more than squiggles, blots, splatters and lines, so not only has a child’s life been skewed and taken over, with things like this happening, a respect of the arts is fading, and once again people are starting to say “My Kid Could Paint That.”

“Roads”- Marla Olmstead

“Glitter”- Marla Olmstead

“Volcano”- Marla Olmstead

“Flowers Growing in Outer Space”Marla Olmstead

Secret Alternative Artist’s

alternative art by Malena Villegas

Costume

“One can find their true self by dressing up in a little outfit and putting on a little makeup and doing up their little hairdo and maybe a hat too (but only if the hat serves a creative purpose benefitting to the costumes means of art). Have you ever dressed in a costume? If you haven’t then you probably aren’t American because this is a country where we celebrate Halween. Halloween. The holiday of children dressing in masks and such running around the neighborhood like young hoodlums. Kind of like James Dean.” - Secret

Alternative Artist

t forms Pencil Drawing

â&#x20AC;&#x153;I like to draw with pencils on paper, but also on other surfaces. By the way, you cannot draw on skin with pencils. So this picture I drew over here is a picture of a man model, or male model I mean, and I found him on the internet. I think my picture turned out hotter though.â&#x20AC;? - Secret

Alternative Artist

Body Art â&#x20AC;&#x153;Drawing on your body is good for three main reasons. First of all, your appendages turn into different people. Then, if they are your friends, you can have a party.â&#x20AC;? - Secret

Alternative Artist

Poster Design â&#x20AC;&#x153;Posters. Posters, they are good because you can make some art that teaches people things. This here poster I made is educating on the dangers of ectasy, the dangerous dangerous club drug. It shows the side effects of taking ectasy, becoming obese and troll like and your limbs becoming floppy and looking like bok choi.â&#x20AC;? - Secret

Alternative Artist

B-Side Written by: Malena V

“A

n audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark — that is critical genius.” Sitting on his front porch, wearing a t-shirt reading “I understand the Muppets on a deeper intellectual level than you”, Chris Hyams explains to me how this Billy Wilder quote summarizes the spirit of his film company, B-Side. “We start with the audience. As opposed to starting with ‘What will we think people are going to like’, we start by asking people ‘Do you like this’. There’s no other movie company in the world actually that does that.” Chris Hyams has played music professionally, taught public high school and worked for 15 years in a software business, but eventually the influence of his film director/ writer father and brother brought him back to the business of movies. “I was interested in seeing how with my software background and everything that was happening on the internet

that was changing the way people could find out about art, and use that to help independent films that were not reaching an audience to help them find an audience.” Hyams harnessed the free and open source software available on the Internet, and started B-Side in his garage. For the first year, he funded the company himself. Investors started becoming interested in the company when they built their first website for the Austin Film Festival. “Through that we were able to show that we could go to film festivals, we could tap into the audience, get them to participate and give us this information, and at that point went out and started to raise a little bit of funding.” That was the beginning of 2006. Now the company has raised a little over 3 million dollars and works with over 200 film festivals worldwide. Each website they build has a unique feature, a page where people who attended the festival can rate and review the movies they saw. The audience feedback they get from about 2

and a half million people helps the company choose what movies to market. “We’re able to get this really great direct line to the audience to find out which of the films are most interesting to people. By giving them some way to benefit themselves, that they can actually kind of collaborate and get involved to market films that are ones that they care about.” B-Side’s first film was a documentary on the music business called Before the Music Dies. Two Austin filmmakers interviewed unknown musicians, known musicians, and fans standing outside of an Ashlee Simpson concert. Instead of focusing on getting money from the film playing in theatres, they let them play it for free. Although they did not make a lot of money, they found an audience. “Because of the way we are marketing films ourselves, which is getting other groups of people who are interested involved in it, it has to be about a subject matter that there’s a large group of people who actually care about. Take our first film, Before the Music Dies.

It’s a movie that it turns out a lot of people who are musicians and who are in the business really fell in love with.” Hyams’ software background shows through the companies effective use of the internet. On the B-Side website, and on the individual sites for each film they promote, they have instructions on how to “Roll your own screening”, or basically a way that any person can show the film in their own house. All you need is: “1. A place. Any dark room will do. 2. A projector. The one you use at the office is perfect.

“Before the Music Dies”

3. A DVD player. 4. A sound system.” (from the Crawford website). He compares the technique to one used by music artists like Radiohead, who got publicity for posting an album for free on their webpage. “If you have something that’s great, people will like it and they will talk about it, they’ll blog about it, they’ll tell their friends about it and then people will go and buy the product and that’s what all of those guys (Radiohead, David Byrne and Brian Eno) found with their music. What the Internet does in theory is that it lets information travel very inexpensively, and very quickly. If you have something that’s really bad, everyone’s going to find out really quickly. If you have something that’s really great, you have the chance of it sort of spreading just as quickly.” The technique seems to work. B-Side’s two other films have found success in their own audiences. The antiBush, from Jake Gyllenhaal to Richard Linklater, embraced the political film Crawford. Super High Me, a documentary exploring the effects of marijuana, received praise from High Times magazine and was described by a critic as “The stoner’s Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Not so bad for a company that just 3 years ago was an idea in the head of a software worker.

Roll Your Own Screening poster.

“Crawford”

INDEPENDENT COLORING PAGE! Make your own art right here. I’m sure it’ll be super beautiful.

Photo from Creative commons

One of these pictures is not like the others, can you tell which one does not belong?

Photro from Creative Commons

For extra credit you can guess which one is David Bowie? Hint- one of them is of David Bowie and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that one right there or that one up there.

Complementary Crossword Puzzle

Hints are on the next page (just kidding, figure it out on your own)

Across 1. Child Prodigy? 3. Statues in Auditorium Shores 5. Danceorama! 7. Final Stage of a Tree’s Life 8. Greatest art teacher ever (he teaches at LBJ) + Sir 12. Artist Banned From Our Magazine 14. 7 Words You Can’t Say on TV 16. Great artist (and art teacher) who works at LBJ 17. Great American Musician (His Music Licks Your Ears) 18. Splatter Painter + Y 19. B-Side Fella 21. Type of Cake Down 2. Plague Sweeping LASA’s Rocks 4. Concerned 6. Simon Posford + Raja Ram 8. Art is 9. Painter of the Future Pope of South America (add “the teacher” after his name) 10. Homoerotic photographer that “aroused” controversy 11. Banjo Player 13. He Looks Like George Carlin and Teaches at LBJ 15. Documentary Film Maker

ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! ANSWERS! In keeping with tradition, all the answers are upside down so that you don’t accidently read them. You’re welcome.

20. MissTrish’s Dance Studio

Down 2. SecretGraffiti 4. SirWilliamBrenner 6. Shpongle 8. Subjective 9. NewmanTheTeacher 10. Mapplethorpe 11. Bren 13. MrNewman 15. AnneLewis 20. SMSD

Across 1. Olmstead 3. Mushrooms 5. MissTrish 7. Orange Peel 8. SirNewman 12. Witheld 14. GeorgeCarlin 16. Newman 17. KEVINUSA 18. Pollacky 19. ChrisHyams 21. LemonCustard

INDEPENDENT COLORING PAGE! for those of you daring enough to draw on your computer screen, or to print this out!

KIDZ KORNER KOLORING KPAGE

Images used with permission from biro-art.com

June & July 2009 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 9

10 16

12 18

22 28

Sunday

Last Day of School June 3

Badgerdog Creative Writing Program June 8-26 & July 13-31 Cost $400 (512) 538-1305

Austin Girls Choir Camp 1beginner & experienced June 8-12 Cost $323 (Ages 8-15)

Austin Film Festival Summer Camp June 15- Aug 7 (various) Cost $195- $390 [Ages 9-18 (depending)] McCallum High School

Austin Girls ChoirCamp 2advanced June 15- 19 Cost $325 (Ages 12-17) (512) 453-0884

US Performing Arts Camp June 21-27 Cost $995 (512) 232-5301

Begining Guitar & Piano June 22-26 $150 (one) & $275 (two) [Age 13-17] (512) 428-1297

Kids Make TV Camp June 29- July 3: $300 (512) 478-8600 *Jun 8-12 & Jul 6-10*

Shakespeare on The Hill June 29- July 10 Cost $450 (512) 428-1297

Acting Camp

July 6-10 Cost $300 (Ages 14-18) Paramount Theatre (info@austintheatre.org)

“I said you’re WEIRD.” -Akshay “Malena’s probably my favorite group member.” -Ronja Malena is currently in the hospital after suffering a personal accident, but while she was with the group she was a big help to productivity. The group admired her for her extensive knowledge on homoerotic photography and soon came to consider her the expert on homosexual relations. She considers her greatest accomplishment in the ezine to be the page dedicated to Richard Hell that she designed. It is located adjacent to the table of contents. She was briefly in relations with Akshay, but she ended it because his personality was too intense.

“Smart, in a way” - David

satan

“Looks Stupid... Kevin is stupid because he wears that ugly shirt every day and thinks he looks cool.” (for reference, Malena is wearing the super hot shirt Akshay was speaking of in the picture above) -Akshay Kevin is a straight A student. His highest priority is grades and other than that his personality is fairly void of life. He likes his blue shirt and is a fan of Shpongle and Tool. He’s friends with some people at LASA, and some people not at LASA (his best friend is Akshay). Kevin is a good influence on the group and his greatest accomplishment over the year has been keeping the others in the group (Ronja in particular) on track when they deviated from the task at hand. Everyone loves Kevin.

“Smokin’ hot” -Trejo

“I think we’ve already established that Jacob is a dirty boy” - Akshay As Akshay said, Jacob is a dirty boy. But he did shower yesterday! Anyway, Jacob is deeply in love with Akshay. He loves school, particularly science class. Kinda. He likes wearing clothes sometimes and also enjoys not moving. He’s a fan of Kraftwerk, Shpongle and Rudimentary Peni and he really enjoys bread (the food not the band). Cooking is good too. Next year Jacob will get the privialege of turning 16, at which point he won’t be driving because driving is scary and bad for the environment. But mostly scary.

“Jacob makes bad decisions.” -Ronja

“I don’t know who that is.” -Akshay “I’m a trashcan? Maybe I’ll just bring my own picture” -Ronja Contrary to popular belief, Ronja is not a trash can or a bear, she is, in fact, a plant of some kind. She enjoys Alt Christian music and Taylor Swift and Tim Mcgraw. She’s a proud German (the kind that’s from Germany) and her hair is brown. She likes to bake and dance (sometimes at the same time) and aspires to be the President of Greenland and Ghana simultaniosly. Ronja is a good worker when she decides to do her work (and everyone else’s work). She keeps a small circle of close friends, with Akshay being her best friend since the 3rd grade when they were both wee lads in Germany. She loves fame and is currently an international pop star. Go Ronja! And Germany!

“Ronja’s a procrastinator.” -Daniel